Communications systems are often used to route data, voice, and/or video signals among users. One typical communications system is the Local Area Network (LAN) that interconnects a plurality of computer workstation users. Perhaps the most common way in which computers or other devices are connected together in a LAN is through electrically conductive wires. For example, wall or floor connectors may be located throughout a building to which computer workstations are connected, and metal wires are run from the wall connectors to one or more central locations where they may be connected to centralized computing devices, such as a server.
Certain disadvantages may accompany the use of wired networks. For instance, because electrical power is being transmitted over the wires, the installation of the wires may be subject to electrical codes that may make installation more difficult or even costly. Furthermore, the bandwidth that is available using typical metal wires (e.g., copper wires) may be less than desirable for some applications.
As a result of such limitations, other types of interconnections have been utilized in an attempt to provide “copperless” networks. For example, fiber-optic lines allow light signals which correspond to electrical signals to be transmitted between computers or other devices at a very high rate and bandwidth. Yet, fiber-optic communication is often more expensive than wires, and thus running fiber-optic lines to numerous wall connectors may be cost prohibitive in some circumstances.
Further, fiber-optic cables may be more difficult to extract signals from than wires. As a result, various approaches for addressing the difficulties of signal extraction from optical fibers have been developed. One such approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,265,710 in which light emerging from an optical fiber is directed by focusing elements at a photodetector or at the input face of another glass fiber. Another approach is to use gratings which are physically configured to capture light of a particular wavelength. An example of this approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,696 to Patterson et al.
Another way to interconnect one or more devices in a LAN is to use wireless communications links. For example, each device in the LAN may include a wireless radio frequency (RF) transceiver for sending and receiving data signals to other devices using one or more designated frequencies. While this approach has the advantage of requiring less, if any, wall connectors than a wired or fiber-optical network, the wireless communications links may be subject to interference, signal distortion, or signal loss as devices are moved to various locations.